Oaths That Bind

“There’s always another war coming. All we get to decide is whether to fight in it.”

Murtagh Fitzgibbons

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; we are enjoying the golden age of dramatic television. Never before, since the first grainy images were put forth in black and white, have the creative jewels of storytelling been laced together in such a marvelous tableau every bit as powerful and relevant as history’s great authors convey. Incredible series, beginning with The Sopranos and evolving through masterpieces such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and more recently The Crown, have given us anti-heroes we can embrace despite all of our previous inclinations. Their stories resonate with force and tie together the patches of our culture and society in a search for some redemption for sins life renders inevitable.

Add to this list of great works Outlander, a sweeping tale spun directly from the pages of a series of novels Diana Gabaldon began penning in the late 1980s. But rather than Don Draper, think Game of Throne’s John Snow when imagining the series’ heart and soul, James Fraser. We need no time to warm to this dashing Scot, no episodes spent tolerating his foibles as terms for endearment. He is true from the start. By season 5, which premieres on STARZ this weekend, his love affair with the story’s central figure, Claire, and the adventures their circumstances have forced upon them, has honed him into a legendary figure, a hero for the ages.

Without spoiling plot arcs of the story, Outlander is a time travel fantasy set following World War II in Scotland. A British woman, series heroine Claire Randall, happens on some “stones” with mystical Gaelic qualities that send her back in time two centuries, where she encounters James Fraser. Their love affair, and the march of history it inhabits, defines the storylines and endows the characters. The magnificent authenticity of the dialect and settings elevates Outlander to lofty heights.

Yet and still, it’s the development of Jamie as a hero fit to match our highest expectations that truly distinguishes the production. Not since Lonesome Dove has a character been so successfully translated from page to screen. Informed of history’s secrets, and humbled by unspeakable trauma, James Fraser matures into a towering leader without peer. Never asking what he won’t give, or expecting what he can’t do, he is a veteran of war’s worst and becomes a constant example of man’s best. To follow his lead becomes a righteous endeavor.

We hope in this nation our leaders can approach a discernible degree of such majesty. They seldom do. The shocking phenomenon of so many now pledging fealty to one utterly barren of worthiness highlights a terrible illness in our body politic. That said, it’s too late to worry about where it started or why it spread because something’s coming of it; time is not our ally. History’s sweep is upon us, building bit by inane bit, one ridiculous tweet at a time. Nothing but the worst has been realized in this Presidency, and far worse still seems a good futures wager.

Several days ago, after nationally televised overt corruption by the GOP Senate contingent, the DR beseeched Barack Obama and/or any who have distinguished themselves before in service to their nation come forward and be heard. Far too few yet seem interested. Meanwhile, Trump minions transition without opposition from comical toadies to instruments of coming repression that, once underway, will only pick up steam and render grotesque MAGA rhetoric reality.

Examples are agonizingly easy to find. Right now ICE readies operations to begin round ups of DACA kids and families, even as thousands remain detained in southern border hellholes. Trump henchman cum Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gaslights Trump’s destruction of NATO to European leaders, even as its membership makes clear US leadership is not desirable in its current incarnation and readies for the break four more years will make a certainty. Roger Stone, a self-described scum bucket, now enjoys a campaign by Fox/AM and the GOP to be redefined as a martyr of deep state persecution.

Voltaire called it correctly when he observed those who can convince one to believe absurdity can also impel him to commit atrocity. The wretched core is chomping at that bit, itching for lines of decency to be obliterated. After all, it made clear long ago sinking to totalitarianism’s deepest depths was not something to lose sleep over.

We remain as good as our electoral system. For all of Trump’s many outrages, the standard rituals of Decision 2020’ remain in place and proceed apace, even as Moscow Mitch sends any and all election security legislation to oblivion.Nobody wants to buy trouble, and if elections can successfully stop the bleeding of a thousand MAGA cuts, all the better. Of course, that proposition appears more wishful thinking than viable hope with each passing Trumpist abasement. The hell of it only pollyannas can deny is anybody who listens can recognize sedition when they hear it. Anybody with eyes can discern corrupt injustice when they see it. And anybody with any sense of intuition for the flow current events creates can feel something very bad building to a crest. Between now and November this chapter is going to close one way or another. We must be ready for either.

Trumpism is a community destroyer, feeding on the alienation fear, resentment and grievance provide with a surplus. That millions of our countrymen and women are squarely on the wrong side of a breach capable of ruining all we hold dear is a tragedy, maybe a sorrow for all time. But the interval for reasoning has expired, at least for now they are lost to us as peers. MAGA is a burgeoning evil that will consume our national greatness, extinguish centuries of lessons and the cumulative empathy their teaching imparted. It will kill the mission statement our country’s existence has until 2017 embodied and leave us reviled by the world, a pariah instead of a beacon, a crisis instead of a solution…. a soulless wretch among countries of this Earth.

As the season 5 premiere of Outlander winds down, James Fraser, cognizant of a coming war, moves to galvanize the future support of his neighbors. Summoning the example of Highland Scottish clan chieftains, he relates how when battle was to come, they would use a fiery cross to alert their followers to prepare for conflict. He then calls on his people to swear allegiance to their kinship and promises he will stand with them whatever the future holds, always giving sway to the bond they share. Much of our current angst lies with our uncertainty as to who stands where and how much faith we can have in those still unfamiliar with the threat of authoritarian encroachment. Perhaps between now and November we need to become certain who we can count on, who cannot pursue routines under MAGA. Who can we call with confidence a brother or sister in arms?! Who, to quote James Fraser, will “stand by my hand?!” BC